In Haiti, `The Big Eaters Are Still In Power'

DATELINE

People Despair As Government Continues Dysfunction And Disarray

October 18, 1998|By LARRY ROHTER The New York Times

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Four years ago this month, Haiti's future seemed so promising that people were dancing in the streets. U.S. troops had just overthrown a brutal dictatorship, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was on his way back from exile, and a procession of foreign aid donors and investors was following in his wake.

Today, those hopes for an era of prosperity and stability have evaporated, and with them the patience of most Haitians. A 16-month political squabble between Aristide and other leaders of the fracturing Lavalas coalition has left the country without a working government, the population to fend for itself, and Haiti's foreign allies disillusioned and exasperated.

In an effort to break the impasse, the United States has sent one high-level emissary after another, with nothing to show for it but broken promises and frustration.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; Anthony Lake, the former national security adviser; and Bill Richardson, the former U.N. chief delegate _ all have tried to negotiate a settlement, and all have failed.

As a result, the Clinton administration, which four years ago was hailing Aristide's restoration as a major foreign policy triumph, has changed its tune.

``It's a national disaster,'' said Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, leader of the country's most prominent peasant group and a former Aristide ally.

Because of the impasse, President Rene Preval, Aristide's hand-picked successor, has been unable to get a government budget drawn up and approved for a second consecutive year.

In the cities, civil servants _ teachers and doctors included _ have gone months without being paid. In rural areas, grievous social problems, such as an illiteracy rate that is the highest in the hemisphere and a life expectancy that is the lowest, go unattended but for the work of private relief organizations.

Foreign donors have pledged more than $1 billion in aid, but much of that money remains on hold because government ministries, some now without senior staff, are unable to organize programs or comply with other requirements for spending the money. What is worse, there are no signs that the stalemate will end any time soon. ``All the institutions are paralyzed, and the Cabinet is not functioning,'' Jean-Baptiste said.

``Misery is advancing, public services are lacking, aid is not flowing, and there is no budget to confront the emergency. The situation is one of total desperation and confusion, and nobody is opening an exit door.''

The crisis began in June 1997, when Prime Minister Rosny Smarth resigned to protest what he described as efforts by the Aristide camp to undermine his program. Since then, Preval has sought four times without success to nominate a new prime minister who can win the approval of Parliament, which is dominated by a left-center party of former allies who accuse Aristide of reneging on promises of power sharing and of trying to install a dictatorship.

``The heart of the matter is the use Aristide has made of his influence and his domination from the sidelines, with the president's complicity, of many institutions in this country,'' said Gerard Pierre-Charles, the main leader of the party, the Organization of the People in Struggle.

The worse the situation becomes, he said, ``the more Aristide likes it, because he has this messianic idea that he, and only he, will be the one to save Haiti from chaos.''

In private, many U.S. policy-makers, too, express irritation at what they describe as Preval's passivity and Aristide's duplicity, while in public, Washington is showing signs of mounting impatience with the squabbling.

``Frankly, we have been disappointed that Haitian political leaders have taken so long to resolve their differences,'' Albright said during a visit in April.

``The Haitian people deserve a democratic form of government, and they deserve the ability to have the fruits that the international community is trying to give them.''

Preval declined requests for an interview, and members of Parliament aligned with him were back in their home districts, where communications have been disrupted by Hurricane Georges. Aristide, who holds no public office and spends most of his time in his walled mansion on the outskirts of the capital, was unavailable for an interview. He was said to be traveling abroad.

On the streets, the mood is one of despair with the situation and anger at political leaders. In a poll the U.S. Information Service conducted in cities and towns here this summer, almost three-quarters of those surveyed said they would leave Haiti if they could; more than 60 percent said they did not intend to vote in the next election, and a majority said that elected officials ``care nothing at all'' about their problems.